By David J. Butler
New York’s Jewish leaders recently met with Mayor Zohran Mamdani again. They told him they are worried, that his words about Israel are hurting many Jewish New Yorkers and that relations between City Hall and parts of the Jewish community are deteriorating.
One rabbi reportedly summarized the exchange with admirable economy: “This is not going well.” No, it isn’t.
But there is a more uncomfortable question Jewish leaders now need to ask: What do they expect another meeting to accomplish?
The script has become familiar. Jewish leaders express alarm. The mayor listens respectfully. The conversation is described as candid or constructive. Everyone agrees that antisemitism is unacceptable. Then everyone goes home.
And nothing fundamental changes. That should no longer surprise anyone.
Mamdani campaigned openly on views that deeply troubled much of New York’s Jewish community. Since taking office, he has revoked his predecessor’s adoption of the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance’s definition of antisemitism and related protections against city divestment from Israel. He vetoed school safety legislation strongly supported by major Jewish organizations. And last month he again called Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu a “war criminal” and urged the federal government to enforce the International Criminal Court’s arrest warrant against him.
These are not old quotations unearthed from some distant political past. They are the words and decisions of the mayor of New York City. Meanwhile, anti-Jewish hate crimes remain appallingly high. Through July, reported incidents were up 8.5% from the same period last year and accounted for more than half of all reported hate crimes in the city.
Mamdani condemns antisemitism. He has retained an Office to Combat Antisemitism and promised a municipal plan to address it. Good. Those actions deserve acknowledgment. But they do not erase the contradiction at the center of his relationship with Jewish New Yorkers: A mayor cannot continually assure Jews that he understands their fears while dismissing their concerns about rhetoric and policies they believe help create the atmosphere producing those fears.
The rabbis have explained that contradiction to him. He understands it. Which means the problem is no longer communication. It is accountability.
Chicago offers an instructive example — not because its Jewish community has won its battle with Mayor Brandon Johnson, but because it finally changed the nature of the fight. After the city’s own human relations commission documented a 58% increase in anti-Jewish hate crimes, Jewish leaders stopped asking simply to be heard. They demanded specific actions: a dedicated antisemitism task force, training, stronger police attention, named responsibility, deadlines and public measures of progress.
When Johnson instead offered a broader engagement initiative, Jewish leaders publicly called it inadequate. That is an important distinction. They did not declare victory because the mayor agreed to another dialogue. They judged his response against what they had actually asked him to do. New York should do the same.
There is certainly a place for engagement with City Hall. Jewish leaders should meet with Mamdani when there is something concrete to discuss or negotiate. But access is not influence, and cordiality is not accomplishment. New York’s Jewish community needs specific demands and a strategy for what happens when they are rejected.
That means organizing voters, recruiting candidates, financing serious political opposition when warranted, challenging unlawful government actions, scrutinizing appointments, tracking city funding, and demanding accountability from council members and other elected officials who enable policies hostile to Jewish interests.
It means publicly measuring the Mamdani administration on matters that can actually be measured: enforcement against antisemitic crimes, protection of Jewish institutions, policies in the public schools, city funding decisions and the conduct of senior officials.
Political power is not demonstrated by how quickly a mayor returns your telephone call. It is demonstrated by whether ignoring your concerns carries a cost.
There is also an uncomfortable truth that New York’s Jewish community should confront about itself. Mamdani did not sneak into City Hall. His record and views were well known. Some Jewish New Yorkers supported him. Others minimized the significance of his positions. Still others apparently hoped that governing America’s largest city would moderate him. That was a gamble. So far, there is little evidence it has paid off.
New York’s Jews did not elect Mamdani by themselves, and they cannot be held responsible for everything his administration does. But a politically sophisticated community should learn from a political miscalculation rather than repeatedly attempt to talk its way out of it.
Perhaps Mamdani will change. If he does, Jewish leaders should welcome it. But hope is not a political strategy.
New York’s Jewish community is one of the largest, wealthiest and most accomplished in the world. It has enormous institutional resources, political experience and civic influence. It should start behaving as though those assets matter.
The objective is not to punish Mamdani for disagreeing with Jews about Israel. Mayors are entitled to disagree. The objective is to make clear that policies and rhetoric have political consequences. Meet with Mamdani when there is something to accomplish. Negotiate when there is something to negotiate. Cooperate where cooperation is possible. But when persuasion repeatedly fails, democracy provides other tools.
New York made a consequential choice when it elected Zohran Mamdani. Its Jewish community now needs to make one of its own: whether merely to keep explaining its concerns — or to organize effectively enough that City Hall can no longer afford to ignore them.
David J. Butler is an attorney. He is president of Dvash Consulting, LLC and a member of the ownership group of Mid-Atlantic Media, which owns and publishes Washington Jewish Week.
